Restoration of Pride
by J. Lucy-Daisuke
Summary: Act 4 now up. When everything is lost, how will a samurai gain back his honor? Will several unlikely heroes as well as old friends help him to find his way again, or is he lost forever? Word of caution: Mrated fic.
1. Act 1

DISCLAIMER: Eh, doesn't belong to me; just borrowing

Hello…

Yup! 'M'-rated fic, me! This is a first, ; Please, no one tell my mother. Well, this one's my baby… Long, difficult labor. It's a little break from what I usually write, but rest assured, as I have said in all of my shorter works, that this does not mean an end to the series you know me for. It will continue as planned, and until then I hope you enjoy this story!

Author's Note: Dialogue written with the brackets ( " " ) is perceived to be in Japanese while dialogue written in ( ' ' ) is meant to be taken as English.

Restoration of Pride

By J. Lucy-Daisuke

Kyoto:

"This one's exceptionally pretty…" a wiry Japanese man in a gray business suit smiled down at the large floor below him. He was invisible to his prisoner who sat tied up to a chair in the center of the warehouse. "But deadly, from what I understand…"

"A member of the Lupin gang," a small, mousy man with a clipboard looked upward at him and smiled devilishly.

"Ah… Looks shorter than in the pictures, neh?" the Japanese man chuckled. "I'm going to go down and introduce myself."

"Careful, this one's a fighter," his assistant laughed, and followed his employer out of the small office, down the metallic stairs and to the wooden chair in the center of the room.

"A heist gone bad, eh?" the Japanese man laughed and took his captive by the chin, and met with the glaring pair of brown eyes. He walked over to a crate and patted it, and turned back to his victim. "Cocaine, and lots of it… I understand your boss was going to burn it all?"

"Lupin doesn't believe in destroying that many lives for a cheap profit," Goemon Ishikawa snapped, and looked upward at his captor with a glare. "When I get out of here, Tomo… They will be finding pieces of you around this city months from now!"

"You're a lot of talk, but little real threat without your precious sword, Goemon…" Tomo looked over his shoulder and smiled, picking up the blade and unsheathing it. "Some say you can tell the character of a man by his weapon… Looks like yours needs some polishing…"

Goemon struggled against the ropes, but found this in vain. There were several layers, and in the center of the room without any sort of blade it would be near impossible to even attempt to cut the ropes. He simply looked upward at Tomo and gulped hard as he stared at the blade. Tomo chuckled and looked over at Goemon, and pulled up him by his hair to face him.

"You look frightened… I thought you weren't scared of death, as a follower of the bushido…"

"I'm not," said Goemon calmly. His eyes were still fixated upon his sword, however.

"Good… That's all right, I'm not going to kill you, anyway…" Tomo smiled, and placed a hand on Goemon's face. "You're quite a catch, you know…"

Goemon, in response, bit Tomo.

"You little bastard!" Tomo pulled away his hand, and then slapped Goemon hard against the cheek.

"If that is the best you've got, I'm not afraid of you, Tomo…" said Goemon with a smile and a small laugh.

"I haven't begun to show you the best," said Tomo quietly in a hiss. He turned back around to his assistant and snapped, "Leave me with him; you won't want to stay for this. Bring a car around about sunrise. Also send out that note to Goemon-chan's friends… They'll know where to pick him up, and they'll know not to bother with my affairs again."

The next day, the woods outside of Kyoto:

"This is the place…" Lupin looked over at Jigen, and then at the old shack in the middle of virtually nowhere. "I hope he's alive…" Lupin added worriedly as Jigen pulled up and brought the car to a stop.

Jigen silently stepped out of the driver's side, and Lupin followed him. The red-jacketed thief was the first to get to the door, and kicked it open, gun drawn. Jigen was at his back, his gun also absent from its holster.

"Goemon?" Lupin placed his gun back in his holster and looked over to a corner of the room. Goemon sat with his hands bound and his legs crossed, and his head bowed down. His sword was merely inches away.

"Goemon, come on, buddy…" Lupin whispered, and placed a hand on Goemon's shoulder. He was stunned at how quickly Goemon turned from him, shrugging his shoulder and allowing Lupin's hand to fall off. Lupin picked up Goemon's sword, and Jigen helped Goemon to stand. Jigen took a pocket knife he carried with him in his hat and undid Goemon's bindings, and was stunned to see exactly how bruised his arms were beneath the ropes. Goemon also sported a black eye and marks around his neck, from where it looked like he had been choked.

The samurai was silent for the ride back to their hotel, as were Lupin and Jigen. When they arrived, Goemon wordlessly exited the back seat of the vehicle and walked up the stairs into their room.

"You take a look at his eyes?" Jigen muttered to Lupin as the two watched Goemon walk into the hotel building. "Something really bad went down, I have the feeling…"

"Yeah… I should've never had let him do this on his own, I should've gone," Lupin said to Jigen, his voice and expression lined deep with regret. "Tomo was too much for him…"

"I did some research on Tomo in my spare time… Yeah, I know, me and research, ha ha… Anyway, I read about what happened to some of the other people he did who crossed his path… You don't think that's what he did to Goemon…. Do you?" Jigen looked above the brim of his fedora at Lupin.

"I'd like to think that isn't what happened… But from that look, I think that's exactly what happened to Goemon…" Lupin muttered. The two walked upstairs and found the Goemon had already let himself in with his room key and was currently in the bathroom. "We need to give him his space and just be there for him when he's ready to talk…" Lupin seated himself on the couch across from Jigen and shook his head. "I shouldn't have done that to Goemon… I knew I had a bad feeling about this…"

"Lupin, it wasn't anything you could've helped—Tomo's drugs killed one of his pupils, of course he'd want to do this alone," Jigen sighed heavily and removed his fedora, setting it down on a nearby table and rubbing his eyes. "You're right; we'll just have to be there for him and try to understand all of this."

Goemon, meanwhile, was in the shower, and unable to hear this conversation. He was thinking back to everything that had happened during that very long night. His sword hadn't saved him, nor had all of his years as a samurai warrior. Tomo had gotten what he had wanted, and put Goemon in his place.

The images started to flash back, and Goemon quickly shut off the water and stepped out, wrapping a towel about his waist and brushing back his black hair from his eyes. He slowly turned his attention to his reflection in the mirror and then looked down at his shoulder. The bruising continued there and on downward, leaving a pattern upon his body.

'_You've got such lovely hair… Very much in the styling of the Meiji period… That was one of my favorite periods, you know…'_

Goemon winced, and began to search through the medicine cabinet for something, anything… He found exactly what he needed; a pair of scissors. He wiped away some of the steam from the mirror, gave a heavy sigh, and began to cut away at the hair, letting it fall into the sink basin.

Jigen was confused at Lupin's stunned look as Goemon walked out of the bathroom, for his back was to the bathroom. He turned around and did a double take at the sight of Goemon's newer, much shorter hairstyle. It was a sloppily cut uneven mop-style, and Goemon said nothing of this sudden change as he opened a closet door and began to rummage through.

"G-Goemon, buddy… Um… That looks good on you… What are you doing, aren't your clothes still in your suitcase?" Lupin inquired, clearing his throat and slowly rising from the couch to approach Goemon.

"I'm not wearing those anymore," Goemon responded quietly. "I'm going to borrow something from the disguises."

"Okay… Do you want to talk about it?" Lupin reached forward to put a hand on Goemon's arm, but Ishikawa quickly shrugged Lupin off, as he had before.

"There's nothing to talk about, Lupin," Goemon removed the towel from his shoulders, and Jigen turned pale with sickness and Lupin's heart dropped to the floor as they were able to get a better look at Tomo's work of their partner.

Goemon found a green dress shirt, and buttoned this up, ignoring Lupin and Jigen's gaping. He tried his best to ignore it, anyway. He knew that they were looking, he could feel their eyes, and they continued to look as he picked out a pair of dark brown slacks and then a pair of shoes. The shoes would take the most getting used to, but he wouldn't be able to go back to how he had dressed.

"I'm gonna go kill that bastard…" Jigen rose from his seat, grabbed his fedora and pistol and began to storm out of the room, but Goemon sought him out and tackled him with an almost unnatural speed. He pinned the gunman to the wall and spoke to Jigen with a crazed look in his eye.

"I thought I could kill him, too… I was wrong," Goemon said in a low voice to a stunned Jigen, whom he had trapped against the wall of the hotel room. Lupin went to put a hand on his gun, but moved it away as Goemon released Jigen and let his arms fall to their sides.

"Does this room have a fireplace?" asked Goemon quietly.

"Ummm… Yeah…" said Lupin slowly. "Why?"

Goemon nodded, and went back into the bathroom, and returned with his samurai gi in his hands. Lupin and Jigen watched Goemon walk into the bedroom, and both could smell the burning logs of the fire in the next room after a few moments.

Goemon walked back out to the main room, and now picked up his sword and began to walk back to the fireplace. Lupin went running in after him, "No way, Goemon! The clothes, the haircut, okay, but not your sword!" Lupin snapped.

"Why, because I'm useless without it?" Goemon asked, looking Lupin in the eyes icily.

"No! Because you'd be putting good skills to waste without it!" Lupin replied passionately.

"Yes, great skills… I'm so glad there were there for me when I needed them most…" Tomo had certainly made a cold cynic out of Goemon in one night, Jigen noted from the wall that he now leaned upon, his arms folded.

"Listen, Tomo did some really bad things to you, and I'd be angry, too! I can't blame you, I'd be pissed!" Lupin shouted.

"What, like you've never done that to a woman in your life?"

"This isn't about me! I may mess with girls, but—I'm not like Tomo. He just did that to make you feel weak."

"Well it worked," Goemon grabbed his sword from Lupin roughly and threw it across the room. "I'll use the sword, but not happily. It's just because I still want to be a partner with you, Lupin, and the sword is the only weapon I know."

"Good," Lupin nodded and adjusted his tie. "Now what do you say we talk about this for a little bit?"

"Like I said before, I have nothing to talk about."

"That's fine… We'll be here when there is something…" Lupin shoved his hands in his pockets and began to make a quick exit of the tense situation.

"That son of a bitch laughed at the end of it…" Goemon said quietly as Lupin turned to leave. "I wanted to kill him, but I just let him throw me in that damn car trunk and drive me to that Godforsaken shack… By that time I didn't care anymore. I didn't care if he killed me at that point."

"I'm sorry I couldn't have been there sooner," said Lupin quietly. "I wish I could've known that this was going to happen to you. I wish for anything that I could take it back, Goemon."

"It isn't your fault, Lupin," said Goemon quietly. "If it's anyone's, it's mine for not being prepared for his assault."

"Hey, Lupin… I think these came from Fujiko," said Jigen, walking in with a large bouquet of flowers.

"Really? Jeeze, I thought we were on bad terms again… I wonder what she wants now," Lupin muttered, walking over and taking the vase from Jigen. He pulled off the note and scanned over it, quickly glancing at Goemon and shoving it in his pocket.

"What did it say?" Goemon inquired, taking a step forward.

"Goemon, it was just some perverted little joke from Fujiko, that's all!" Lupin smiled his usual goofy smile, but Goemon was slow to believe this. He reached into Lupin's pocket and retrieved it, opened it and read it over.

Dear Goemon-chan,

Thanks again for everything. It's a shame the morning after wasn't that grand. Hopefully next time will be better.

Love,

Tomo Otomo

Goemon growled, and crumpled the letter, and moments later the vase went sailing out of a closed window and into traffic several stories below.

"I think what we all need is a vacation," said Lupin after a long pause.

Two weeks later, Hampshire, England:

"Goemon, I'm heading back, you staying again?" Lupin picked up all of the books he needed for researching his next heist and looked down at Goemon with a sort of maternal worry. Goemon nodded without taking his eyes off of the page of the manual he had been reading from, and Lupin turned to Jigen and passed the gunman a large stack of books.

"You find anything, Jigen?" Lupin asked as they walked toward the library checkout.

"Yeah, that they get really mad when you try to smoke in the health section," Jigen responded without missing a beat as they set the two stacks in front of the older librarian, who had been typing away at a computer before they greeted him.

'Your friend staying again?' he asked in a cockney accent as he looked past Lupin and Jigen at Goemon.

'Yeah, he's really into learning English all of a sudden,' Lupin replied, not mentioning that this was because there was a rumor that Tomo had escaped to the U.S.

'He's a hard worker, but then again, I hear a lot about that when it comes to your people…' said the librarian as he turned and went to checking out their books.

'Our people? What do you mean by that!' an irate Jigen snapped.

'Oh, it don't take much to figure it… You're one of those bleedin' Americans, though…' the librarian continued. 'You've got a thick Yankee accent…'

'Your point?' Jigen snapped.

'Okay, okay, guys, could we just get along, please?' Lupin begged, stepping in between the librarian and Jigen.

'Hey, remember who saved your ass in the war!' snapped Jigen. 'I can't wait until your entire bigoted generation just drops dead! Sometimes I think I should lend a hand, you know that?'

'Your books are due on the twentieth. Have a lovely evening, gentlemen,' the librarian placed the final book on a large checked-out stack and smiled at the two with folded hands.

'You, too,' said Lupin, quickly taking the books in one hand and tugged Jigen in the other.

'You better hope to God I don't see you on a street corner somewhere,' Jigen warned as Lupin pulled him out by the jacket.

Several hours passed by, and Goemon never strayed the spot that Jigen and Lupin had left him in. It was evening now, and near closing time. The librarian rose from his seat and spoke to Goemon as he began to shut off the lights, 'Closing time, you know… Hey!... We're closing… Do you understand what I'm saying to you, Mate?'

'…Yes,' Goemon nodded, closing the book and rising from his seat. 'Have a good night…'

'You know, I'm quite disappointed,' said the librarian just before Goemon had reached the doors. 'I would've thought Ishikawa Goemon would have fought to stay, if he had wanted it badly enough…'

'You know me?' Goemon blinked a few times, and felt for his sword, and cursed quietly as he remembered he had left it at the hotel.

''Course I do… Brave samurai warrior… Been a bit of a recluse recently though, ay, Goemon?' the librarian gave a small smirk and began to wheel a cart over to the 0000 section of the library. 'What's your story, neh? Papers said you was attacked by Tomo Otomo… Mean bastard, ain't he?'

'I must go,' Goemon said quickly, bolting for the door.

'Wait!' called the librarian. 'I want to help you.'

'How… Could you… Help me?' Goemon inquired in his broken English.

'I may not look like it, but I was a damn good fighter in my time… Me wife and I were both the best in our own right…' the librarian explained. 'I think I could've even gone up against your father at one point… I was a much younger man then, but I could still put up a good fight if given the opportunity.'

'What could you teach me?' asked Goemon, closing the door and taking a few steps toward the librarian, whom he had suddenly found a newfound interest in.

'How to make sure you don't end up as Tomo's bitch dog for another time…' replied the librarian. 'That's what you want, ain't it? To see Tomo die?'

'Yes,' Goemon nodded, 'more than air itself.'

'Then I'll teach you… But on several conditions… First off, I'm not teaching you in Japanese. If you want to learn, you'll learn the language here. And don't go saying snide things behind my back, I'm fluent in your dialect, as well.'

'All right. I try,' Goemon nodded. 'And?'

'Well, I'm not free—I need help with the books,' the librarian continued. 'You'll help me here.'

'Books. Yes. And?'

'You don't tell neither of your friends about this.'

'Why?'

The librarian smiled and held his head up, 'Because I'm an outstanding racist, and I hate Frogs and Yanks.'

Goemon blinked a few times, not registering the words 'outstanding', 'racist', 'Frogs' or 'Yanks'. He got the feeling, though, that this teacher didn't like Jigen or Lupin. He just didn't understand why. 'What your name?'

'My name is Dorian Alexis,' Dorian responded, cleared his throat and added. 'My parents didn't care all that much for me, I have the feeling. If they had they wouldn't have stuck me with such a damn priss name.'

Goemon chuckled at this and added, 'Thank you, Ar—'

'Dorian. I know that you're not familiar with an 'x' sound so I'll save you the trouble for that now…'

'Doleean?'

'Do-ree-an.'

'And I am Go-eh-mon… Not Goi-ah-man, round eye,' Goemon replied.

'Round eye, eh? Think you're the funny little bastard… Well, I'll see you tomorrow when I open. Wear something comfortable, like a gi.'

'Now I not wear those.'

'Then find a nice coordinating jumpsuit… Something pretty or whatnot… Now get the hell out of here, I need to close… I've got a family to go home to, you know…' Dorian waved Goemon off, and the samurai turned away and exited the library.

He looked about cautiously as he exited, not realizing how very dark it had become. The dark frightened him more now… He felt as though Tomo could be behind any corner, waiting to strike and attack him once again. He jumped as he felt a hand on his shoulder and turned about wide-eyed.

'He really did scare the fire out of you, didn't he?' Dorian, now in a long black overcoat and gloves, said to Goemon. 'I figured you'd need a ride home… Don't worry, everyone who crosses paths with Tomo has the same reaction… You shouldn't though… You ain't everyone, chum.'

'He…'

'Enough of that… Come on, tell me where your home is…' Dorian walked to his small car, and looked up at Goemon, who faltered when he reached for the door handle. 'You don't trust me, do you? Well, I can't exactly blame you… But if I had wanted to kill you I could've a long time ago. Now get in.'

Goemon grabbed onto the handle and opened the door, and seated himself in the small vehicle next to Dorian. The librarian drove him to his hotel, and watched Goemon to the door.

'Poor bastard,' Dorian muttered as he drove off. 'Looks just like her…'

"Goemon, were the hell were you? We were starting to get worried," Lupin admitted as the samurai walked in, closing the door behind him.

"Jigen, I need you to teach me English," Goemon walked up to the gunman, who was spread out on the couch of the hotel room. "As quickly as possible, too!"

"Ummm…. Okay… This naturally leads me to wonder what exactly happened to you…." said Lupin, blinking a few times in surprise.

"That doesn't matter—I have my reasons," replied Goemon. "Well, Jigen?"

"That's easier said than done, Goemon… I wouldn't even know where to start, honestly!" Jigen admitted as he sat up on the couch.

"Here, you can use these for a reference," Goemon handed him a stack of teaching material from a corner table he usually studied in the evenings.

Jigen cracked open one of the books and began to laugh, "Ohhhh wow… If you only had half an idea how friggin' outdated this crap is!" He looked above the brim of his fedora and sighed; as desperate as his friend looked, it was hard to turn him down. "Well, okay, Goemon, I'll teach you… At least I'll try to."

"You guys have fun," said Lupin, waving off the two. "Study groups, eh, not my scene…" Lupin walked into his bedroom, making sure the door was locked behind him. He then went to his laptop and removed a picture from his jacket pocket.

"A supposedly dead prize-fighter ends up in a British library… This I don't see everyday…" Lupin admitted as he removed his reading glasses from their case and studied the photo of Dorian. He then turned back to the computer and began to type away, looking for any and all information on the mysteriously resurrected man.

That following afternoon at the library:

'So you've got the Yankee teaching you English now… I suppose it's better than nothing….' Dorian said in a mutter while Goemon concentrated upon placing a stack of books on a cart and wheeling them into the reference section. He sneezed while he did this; the books he transported hadn't been touched in ages. The road to enlightenment was a dusty one, and was killing Goemon's allergies.

Dorian walked back over to his front desk and went to checking out books for a regular patron.

'Dor, who's that mean-looking one over there?' asked a man about Dorian's age.

'The Oriental? He's new here, and he's the best damn help I've got currently,' Dorian answered. 'Here you go, Mark… Due the twenty-third…'

'Thanks,' Dorian's patron looked back at Goemon once more, and then made a quick exit.

'Well, I say we close up shop for now… It's a slow day,' said Dorian as he approached Goemon. 'You've got two minutes to get to my car, make sure you've got your sword on you.'

Goemon nodded and was, as usual, quick and quiet to make an exit. Dorian gave a semi-amused smile and slowly sauntered out behind the samurai.

He drove to a small gym, and began to pull out a bag from his trunk as Goemon simply looked upward at the building. Dorian walked into the gym, switching on the lights, and disappeared for a time, only to return in a jujitsu uniform.

'You know what your problem is with your fighting style, Goemon? You won't compromise your beliefs in order to save yourself. You think that the bad guy'll play by the same rules of honor… But they don't always. It's not cowboys and Indians… You have to learn defense, too. I know it's in you, but… Well, we'll try to pull it out.'

'I am not naïve,' said Goemon with a snap as he picked up a bokken sword and watched Dorian circle him. He lunged for the British man, only to see Dorian block with his own wooden sword then take Goemon by the wrist and flip him onto the mat.

'You also think that because I'm old I can't kick your arse,' Dorian continued as he looked downward at Goemon, who was looking back up at him from the mat. 'Your respect for the old is only pity under a clever guise.'

After numerous hours of training, Dorian drove his tired pupil home, passing Goemon a tissue to wipe away the blood from his nose while he nursed his own busted lip.

'Same time tomorrow?' Dorian asked as Goemon stumbled out of his car.

'Mm,' Goemon nodded and muttered, and then worked on walking up the numerous flights of stairs to his hotel room.

"That man's a sadist…" Goemon muttered before he opened to door to their hotel room and worked his way to the couch.

"So, Yumiko Readman, how's the bookworm gig working out for you?" asked Lupin with a chuckle from his spot at the table in the corner.

"I need a long nap," Goemon admitted.

"Who would've thought the Dewey Decimal system would take so much out of a man?" Lupin smiled knowingly; he wasn't stupid, he knew exactly what Goemon and the librarian were up to.

"Hey, I figured out a system that would work for us," Jigen announced in his usual gruff voice as he met Goemon in the living room of their hotel room. "You ready?"

"Yes," the samurai nodded and rose, limping slightly as he walked to the room he shared with Jigen and Lupin.

"I'll see you guys later, I've got some work to do," Lupin smiled at the duo as he put on his red jacket, and exited, picking up a briefcase along the way. "Don't expect me home tonight."

"I'm almost afraid to ask what kind of work you'll be doing…" said Jigen with a frown, followed by a shudder. "Okay, just don't come home with whatever you pick up. The last thing I want to see when I stumble out in a drunken stupor is you and an old hooker…"

"That was once, Jigen! And she looked a lot better when I was smashed!" Lupin snapped, and opened the hotel door, and had soon left the two alone in the hotel room.

"I'm sure she didn't look fifty when you were drunk, either." Lupin gave an unamused sneer, and exited the hotel room in a huff.

"Damn, you're walking like an old man, Goemon!" Jigen laughed lightly as Goemon followed him into their bedroom. "Here, sit down on the bed. I know you hate anything that isn't a straw mat, but I think you need it. What kind of books does that guy have you lifting, anyway?"

"Encyclopedias," Goemon replied. "So what's first on the list?"

"I figured we'd start simple," Jigen answered, seating himself next to Goemon and opening a book in between them. "We'll start on verbs later… I never realized what a rough language this really was until you asked me to teach you."

Goemon gave a small laugh and looked down at the foreign words upon the paper. Jigen began to speak to him, but Goemon drowned this out. His thoughts were trailing off once again as they usually did nowadays. Even when he meditated his thoughts would always travel back to the memories of that night. He had felt out of power for the first time in his life; it was a feeling he didn't like. Helplessness frightened him.

Ever since then it had been hard to feel the same sort of power over life he had once felt. He then looked over to Jigen and frowned; how Jigen managed to be all right with being so passive in comparison to him annoyed Goemon. How could he just sit there and go along with what so many people said? He followed all of the Lupin's directions, like a pathetic puppy. Ishikawa wondered what else Jigen would let someone get away with.

Jigen was passive, and that annoyed him… No, it did more than that; it infuriated him.

"Hey, are you listening?" Jigen turned to Goemon, and about that time Goemon realized that he had been staring at Jigen during this entire time. Goemon placed a hand on Jigen's wrist and then took his other hand and threw fiercely him down onto the bed, all while Jigen remained too stunned by this to fight his samurai friend right away.

"G-Goemon! What the hell?" Jigen shouted as he tried to pull up, but was unable to as Goemon laid a knee upon Jigen's stomach. Not enough to hurt him, just enough to subdue him. "Get off of me! What are you doing!" Jigen continued in an angry rant.

"Just shut up," said Goemon quietly, tightening his grip upon the gunman. "Just… Shut up and it'll be all right… I promise…"


	2. Act 2

"Goemon, let go, you're friggin' hurting me!"

"It won't hurt if you don't fight! Now shut up! You always talk too damn much!"

Jigen managed to free one of his hands, grabbed Goemon by the back of the neck and threw him off onto the floor. The gunman then grabbed his fedora and stormed out of the room.

"...What… What in the hell did I just do?" Goemon muttered to himself. "Jigen, wait!"

"What were you thinking about when you did that?" Jigen shouted. Goemon saw that he now had a gun in his hand. "A guy screws you and you're suddenly looking at me? If you're some kind of a queer now, that's fine, but don't go trying to get my ass!"

"I… I'm not…" Goemon sputtered, shaking his head, "I just… I don't know what happened to me in there."

"I'm going to go get a drink," Jigen muttered darkly.

"Jigen, please don't leave," said Goemon quietly as the gunman placed his gun in his holster and then went for his jacket. "I don't like being alone anymore," he added in a low voice.

Jigen blinked a few times in surprise and walked back over to Goemon, and stood in front of the samurai with the same stunned expression. He didn't even seem like Goemon anymore. He wasn't the proud if not arrogant samurai warrior; he was just afraid now.

"I won't leave you," Jigen said, placing a hand on Goemon's shoulder. "I won't let those creeps get you, I promise. They'll have to go through me and Lupin before they get to you."

"Thank you," Goemon leaned against him, much to Jigen's shock. "It isn't easy for me to ask for help."

"I figured as much," Jigen answered with a heavy sigh. "Buddy, I don't know who you are right now, but I'll help you get Goemon back. Why don't you get some sleep, now? You're exhausted… We'll forget that this ever happened."

Goemon gave a gesture of agreement, and walked into the bedroom. Jigen sighed, muttered to himself and went into the minibar in search of the hardest liquor available. He was grateful that he had been able to get out of Goemon's grasp; it wasn't so much the thought of what would happen that had frightened him, it was Goemon's look of anger and his harsh words. He would have to start sleeping with a knife under his pillow, because, although he did not want to hurt his friend, it might come down to that grim reality.

The next evening:

'So… It's not a physical attraction so much, as much as a desire to attain the power which you yourself lost… Although maybe you feel more than you're willing to admit, that I don't know for sure,' Dorian explained as he took another swing at Goemon, the samurai ducking and then taking a shot at pinning Dorian, only to wind up with a sword butt in the ribs. 'You better be thankful your friend was so forgivin', Mate.'

'So, I do not like men now?' asked Goemon. This phrase was broken and could be taken several ways, but Dorian got the gist of what Goemon had to say.

'Dad, you here?' Goemon and Dorian stopped their battle and Goemon flushed as he watched a young Asian girl walk into the dojo, a backpack over her shoulder and a small smile on her face. She had a British accent, although more refined sounding than Dorian's, and wore light makeup along with a brown overcoat.

'I think you answered your own question,' Dorian said, looking over at Goemon. He was quick to add in a low voice, "Stay away from my daughter or I'll 'accidentally' cut off something of yours you hold dear…"

'This your friend?' asked the girl as she set down her backpack and walked over to her father, embracing him and kissing him on the cheek briefly.

'Yeh, this is him,' Dorian nodded in Goemon's general direction. 'Goemon, why don't you pack up, eh?'

"Hai," Goemon bowed lightly, and went to putting away their weapons.

'He's funny,' the girl giggled loudly enough for Goemon to hear and flush as he had before. 'He's from Japan, Dad?'

'Yes… I'm not exactly sure where, but I know it's rural, and it isn't Osaka… He doesn't have that blasted Osaka yokel accent. He isn't from Tokyo, either, that's for certain. He doesn't dress like a bloody woman and have his hair died four different colors.'

'What, an Osaka accent? Like Mum did? Heh, he looks like an Iga man. The lot of them are handsome…'

'Watch it. He's my pupil, and I don't want you trying anything funny, either, you hear? I know how much you like boys…'

'Dad, he ain't exactly a boy… He's a young man.'

'Regardless, he's my student and I won't stand for you doin' anything that isn't training related.'

'Ya didn't say what sort of trainin'…'

'Barbra, if you so much as—'

'I'm joking, Dad, I'm joking!' Barbra laughed and walked over to Goemon, and held out her hand. 'Pleasure to meet you, I'm Barbra, the daughter of the man who's been knocking you on the arse all of this time.'

'Good to meet you,' a preoccupied Goemon replied in a mutter, lifting up a bag of weapons and heading toward the car.

'So you're Mister Ishikawa, eh? You're a lot taller than I thought you'd be… Plus I thought you had longer hair…'

'I fix it,' Goemon replied.

'You mean you fixed it.'

'Good night, Miss Alexis.'

'I'll be damned, he said it properly…' Dorian said quietly to himself.

'Good night, Mister Ishikawa,' Barbra replied, and walked over to her father once more. Dorian frowned as he watched Goemon's eyes follow his daughter's legs, and he turned away from Ishikawa after shooting him a glare that warned him that he would receive extra difficult work tomorrow for that.

'Dad, I'm going to spend the night over at a friend's, but I'll see you tomorrow, bright and early,' Barbra kissed her father once more, and then was off.

Dorian took a step forward and gave Goemon the same stern glance, and then stormed out to the car.

The car ride was quiet as usual for the most part, until Dorian chose to break the silence, "….Barbra's a good girl…. I only wish she were really mine…."

"Hm?" Goemon opened one eye and looked toward Dorian; what did that mean and why was he telling him this?

"What happened to you…. Happened to my wife… Except she ended up with Barbra," said Dorian, clearing his throat and then changing lanes in the black nighttime road. "I think that's part of the reason she did what she did to herself… She loved Barbra, but every time she saw her, she saw him, too."

"Saw who?"

"Tomo Otomo…. Well, here's your stop. I wish you a pleasant night as always, Goemon. Just work on those bloody verbs…"

'Thank you, Dorian,' Goemon said as he exited the vehicle. Dorian took off driving, and looked in his rearview mirror, a small smile growing across his aged features.

"You can come out now, Mister Lupin… Your partner's gone; it's safe and I'm sure the floorboard's a bit grown uncomfortable for you after a bumpy ride like that," said Dorian reassuringly. On cue, Lupin rose and then seated himself out in the middle of the back seat, his arms spread out on the headrests of either seat next to him.

The thief smiled and lit a cigarette, "Well, Mr. Alexis, I'm glad we can finally talk one-on-one… Alexis isn't a British name, is it?"

"No, and Lupin isn't exactly a Japanese name, is it?"

"Touché… Enough about my nationality, though—Let's talk about yours. Your father was a Greek immigrant, who escaped when the Communists invaded."

"True… My goodness, you're quite good with your bookwork."

"I'm an even better cook. Your father was a Grecian dignitary who took a job as a sea merchant in Great Britain—I'm guessing that's where he also met your mother."

"You know my family almost as well as I do. I'm guessing, then, that you know."

"That your father was also sitting on a huge collection of gold coins and Tomo Otomo tried to kill your wife in order to get you to tell him where it was? Yeah, I know a little bit."

"I'm afraid I can't help you, there, Mister Lupin. I have no idea where my father hid his treasure."

"Mr. Alexis, I have no doubt in my mind that you're telling the truth. Your daughter wouldn't be on so much financial aid if you knew where to get a boatload of gold, I have the feeling…. She really seems to like Goemon."

"Yes, well, Goemon needs to keep a safe distance from her."

"I don't think he'll cross paths with you, Mr. Alexis. Even if Goemon does have pedophilic tendencies, i.e. Mursaki and Kikyo, he looks up to you like a father. That'd make Barbra his sister and that, well, would make this an even more screwed up situation than this already is."

"…Where shall I drop you off?"

"Here's fine. I haven't visited a good authentic British pub in ages."

"Have a good night, Mister Lupin…"

"…Have a good night, Mr. Alexis…

"A boatload…" Dorian muttered as he watched Lupin step into the British pub, ducking out of the way of several drunks in the process.

The following day:

'Where is your father?' Goemon inquired of Barbra. He had arrived via Jigen, and set his training gear aside and went to help Barbra with her books.

'Oh, he stepped outside for a fag,' Barbra answered. She chuckled at Goemon's confused expression and made the motion of someone smoking a cigarette. 'A fag…'

'Ah, I understand,' Goemon nodded.

'Ay, uh… Goemon,' Barbra nudged him, and the samurai briefly discontinued his work in order to see what Barbra needed. 'Are you busy Friday night?'

'Busy..?'

'Eh, working?'

'No.'

'Would you mind coming with me to this thing then? All of the other girls in school'll be wicked jealous of me!'

'Thing?'

'Yeah, a _kore_… A thing… An… Odori? Odoriwasu?... Umm…. Dansuu! Yeah, that's it, dansuu!'

"_Dansuu_?" Goemon blinked a few times and set his books aside; how was he to tell her he couldn't even dance?

'It's a party, actually, but I only know the Japanese word for dance,' Barbra chuckled and shrugged. 'I never really learned Japanese. Dansuu? Okay? Dansuu good?'

'Eh, okay,' Goemon nodded.

'Thanks!' Barbra squealed and embraced him tightly.

'What the bloody hell's going on in here?' Dorian snapped as he walked in on the two. He stormed over to Goemon and snatched the books that Ishikawa held in his hands, tossing them aside. 'Get to the gym, start pushups, and don't stop until you see my old, bitter, wrinkled face walk through those gym doors!'

"Hai," Goemon nodded, and made a quick exit.

'Dad, it was me, all right?' Barbra smiled upward at him and chuckled, 'You can't keep me safe forever, you know.'

'Hrm, I can die trying, though,' Dorian murmured.

'Dad!' Barbra laughed and embraced him.

'Young lady, I see trouble for me spelt all over your features.'

'Ha! You're so paranoid about everything!'

'With good reason.'

That night, the Lupin hotel room:

"And those are the basic verbs," Jigen rubbed his eyes and sat back against the headrest of the bed. "Goemon, what's up, Buddy?"

"Nothing," Goemon sighed and shut the book, and looked upward at Jigen. "I think I was invited to the prom."

"Ew, really?" Jigen shuddered at the remembrance of his own prom and looked over to Goemon sympathetically. "Have fun. Hopefully it'll be better than mine."

"What, didn't you have a date?"

"I got busted for some petty crap and I kinda got pulled in by the cops. Nothing serious, just some minor arson."

"I see…" Goemon looked downward at the books and then back at Jigen. "I have no idea about those sorts of things. I never even went to what you could call a real school."

"Well, I'll teach you, then," Jigen smiled and patted Goemon on the back.

"Huh? You'd do that for me?"

"Sure, I'd do anything for you or Lupin. You guys are my family," Jigen shrugged in response. There was a pause, and Goemon noted Jigen's hand upon his back. Jigen also took note of this and quickly moved it away.

"Hey, I'm gonna go step outside for a while," Jigen rose from the bed and slid his shoes on. "I could really use a good smoking session, but I'm all out. I'll be right back; I'm just going downstairs to a shop. Will you be okay on your own?"

"…Well, I…."

Jigen sighed and walked over to Goemon, and removed his gun from his holster, placing it in the samurai's hands. "If anyone comes and tries to attack you, just squeeze this part here, and hold onto it with both of your hands or you'll break most of the friggin' bones in your arms."

Goemon nodded, looked over the weapon and watched Jigen as he exited out of the hotel room. He heard the door open, and gripped onto Jigen's gun, taking cover behind a corner. He jumped in front of the unknown guest in the hotel room as he heard him draw close, gun pointed straight at the man.

Lupin gave a loud scream as he came face-to-face with the barrel, but both men calmed as they recognized one another. "What in the hell are you doing with Jigen's gun?" Lupin demanded.

"He… He gave it to me… For protection…" Goemon replied quietly.

"Oi… Where is Jigen, anyway?"

"He stepped out to go find some fags," Goemon answered.

Lupin blinked a few times, and asked in a quiet mutter, "He… He did what?"

"Lupin, it's nothing unusual for Jigen. He does it all of the time."

"He… He does? I've never seen him…"

"Well, it's not like he can do it in the middle of a heist," Goemon responded with a shrug, and turned away from the still-stunned Lupin.

"Well… That's true…"

The thief gave a jump when Jigen walked in, a cigarette hanging from his mouth and a few cartons in a brown paper bag. He set aside the bag and raised an eyebrow as he looked over Lupin's expression. "….What?"

"Is there anything you've never told me? I… I mean… Something you've always wanted to get off of your chest?"

"Yeah, I think you dress like shit," Jigen responded as he took another drag of the cigarette and removed his fedora.

"Did you find everything you needed?"

"Yeah—Great price, too. I love the exchange rate here… You'd be surprised at what you could find on any street corner. A lot of the really good stuff, really cheap."

Lupin put his hands on Jigen's shoulders and spoke in a serious tone, "No matter what, you'll always be Jigen to me, and you'll always be my best friend."

"Um…. Thank you….?"

"I love you like a brother, Jigen."

"…Where'd you score pot, anyway? You've acting funny, like you're high…. And trust me, one tour in the military and you'd be able to tell high from a mile away."

Lupin frowned with even more confusion, "All I've scored so far is a bottle of absinth. And you've only seen me like that once, and I only did it because I was too drunk to realize that it wasn't a hookah you were passing me."

"Whatever. Just don't go drinking the bong water; I don't want to relive that night, ever. You puked all over the carpet. Then you ran around claiming you were Cutey Honey."

"Hey, I never heard about that part," Lupin blinked a few times as Jigen relayed the part about _Cutey Honey_, but suddenly it made sense why he had awoken in one of Fujiko's miniskirts.

"Heh, Fujiko's got the pictures," said Jigen with a small smirk.

"**What**?" Lupin yelped. He knew that for this there would have to be revenge, and after a few moments' thought he had the perfect plan. "Hey, are you busy right now?"

"Yeah, I'm helping Goemon… I don't like going out anywhere, Lupin, he gets nervous without me," replied Jigen, lifting up his fedora. "Why do you ask?"

"I need you to meet with a contact of mine tonight," said Lupin with a smile.

"Oh, Christ, please tell me it's not a mob guy. I don't work with them anymore…"

"Nah, nah! It's a woman."

"Even worse," Jigen narrowed his eyes at this statement. "You know I don't like women."

"Yeah, I just wasn't sure to the extent," Lupin muttered to himself.

"What was that?"

"Nothing… Just get going, I'll watch after Goemon. You're a good babysitter, but everyone needs to get out for a date or two every once in a while," Lupin shoved the address in Jigen's hand and then pushed him toward the door. "Just watch your ass, okay?"

"Yeah, I always do," Jigen removed another cigarette from his jacket pocket and glanced down at the address. He heard the door slam behind him and began to walk down the hallway to their car.

The address was a club, although Jigen wasn't sure exactly what kind it was. Until he got inside, that was. The numerous faces looked back at him, a little surprised to see a small Asian man who looked like he was from a mobster movie entering a predominantly black club. Jigen pulled his fedora over his eyes, and seated himself at the bar. There was reggae music playing in the background, and the club was smoky, with suspicious faces muttering amongst themselves.

'I need to speak to Roxanne,' Jigen said to the bartender.

'I was wondering what a little rice-eater like yourself was doing in here. I was just thinking you were brave, or stupid… The Triad hangout is down the street,' the bartender admitted with a chuckle. 'She's right over there… She's the one in the orange dress.'

Jigen looked to his right and saw a black woman leaning over the bar, sipping a brightly colored drink that almost accented her dress. Even from this distance he could tell that she was much taller than him. He rose and made his way over to her, seating himself next to her on the creaky bar stools. He looked about the walls, and noted all of the Black Panther propaganda. It didn't take a genius to figure out why he wasn't exactly welcomed with open arms.

'You don't look like my contact,' she said in a refined British accent as she took another sip for her alcohol. 'Want me to buy you a drink?'

'I'm fine, thanks,' Jigen said with a frown. He would not be treated like the woman here. 'Want me to buy you one?'

'I'm over my limit, already,' she admitted with a laugh as she looked at the emptied glass. 'I'll tell you what you need to know if you take me home.'

'Your place or mine?' Jigen asked jokingly.

'Whichever's more convenient for you,' she answered without skipping a beat. She laid her money down on the table and exited the club with Jigen walking beside her. He was somewhat distressed walking next to the taller woman, and he noted the tight muscles in her arms. She looked as though she could snap him in half on a whim. She also had a nice ass to balance it out though, he noted as she was turned away from him for a moment.

He didn't know it, but she was thinking similar about him.

'This is your car?' she asked, placing a hand on the door of the Romeo.

'My boss',' Jigen admitted as he seated himself in the driver's side. 'You might know him….'

'Lupin? M-hm. Who couldn't forget him?' she chuckled lightly, making Jigen wonder exactly what sort of a relationship they had had.

'Give me directions to your place,' Jigen said as he worked his way into the circulation of traffic and took off down the slick road. Trouble and rain seemed consistent in England.

'Left up here,' she pointed, and Jigen turned accordingly. 'So, you know my name—What's yours?'

'Jigen,' he responded, and she gave a laugh. 'What?' he asked with an insulted tone.

'It sounds like a bloody butler name!' she laughed. 'Do you have a first name, or is that it?'

'Urm, Daisuke…'

'Japanese for 'big help', one character off from 'Daisuki'… Which means…?'

'Yeah, yeah, 'I love you',' Jigen muttered plainly.

'The first date and already you're saying that? Hm, smooth talker,' she said with a laugh that showed her bleach-white teeth, while Jigen nearly choked upon the cigarette dangling from his lip. 'Lupin spoke about you, though. He said you were one of his best friends. Now, were you the one who had the altercation with Tomo Otomo or was that the one that cross-dresses?'

'That was Goemon,' Jigen gave a small sigh and felt a headache approaching. 'He—'

'Don't worry, I know what Tomo does to women and men, and I don't like hearing the details, it just sickens me that no one's caught him yet,' she held up her hand before Jigen could continue. 'He murdered my sister.'

'…I'm sorry….' Jigen said after an awkward pause.

'It's the past; I'm just glad I'll be getting revenge now,' she said as she watched the passing buildings. 'A right up here, Dasuki.'

'Daisuke, er, Jigen, I mean… Damn it… Yes, Ma'am,' Jigen sighed with frustration, and complied.

'This is it,' she pointed to a large house on the corner, and Jigen whistled, obviously impressed.

'Well, I guess a tall broad like yourself needs a big place, eh?' Jigen said with a light smirk.

She turned to him, and gave an icy glare, 'Didn't your mother ever teach you how to treat a woman like a lady? I'm sure if you were small she would've spanked some sense into you.'

'She didn't do that sort of stuff to me,' Jigen answered as he pulled up in the driveway.

Roxanne looked him over once and smiled, 'Well, someone should.'

'Eh?' Jigen nearly choked upon hearing this, and looked at the laughing Roxanne, stunned. Did she love giving him a hard time, was this a hobby for her? Was there a bug somewhere, and would Lupin come out of some dark corner any moment now, laughing his usual hysterical laughter? Jigen didn't even know anymore.

'Would you like to come in for some coffee?' she asked after overcoming this bout of hysterical laughter.

'Um, sure, yeah…' Jigen answered, although he wasn't thinking this was the wisest answer. He stepped out of the car, as did Roxanne, and she walked beside him up to her porch.

'I hope you don't mind black coffee,' said Roxanne with a smile. She placed one of her hands behind Jigen and let it go as south as he would allow before recoiling in horror and looking to her above the brim of his fedora.

'Eh, no… We're still talking coffee, right? This isn't like some clever metaphor for hopping into the sack, r-right?' Jigen asked, looking upward at Roxanne.

'It's whatever you make of it, Jigen,' Roxanne held up her hands in surrender and unlocked the door to her home and then stepped in. 'If you just want coffee, that's fine too. But you look as though you're at least considering my other offer'

'Lady, you don't even know me.'

'Sometimes that's what's best. The less we know about the person, the better,' she said quietly, closing the door behind him and looked down at him with a smile. 'No hats allowed on inside the house.'

'Eh, sorry,' Jigen muttered at removed his fedora, leaving him with even less height in comparison to her than before.

'I love shorter men,' Roxanne said with a smile. 'I'll get you what you need…'

She turned away from Jigen and vanished into one of her back rooms; Jigen waited until she was gone to give off a small whistle and fan himself off with his fedora.

'I have the sinking feeling that if I don't agree I'm gonna end up with her, anyway,' he said to himself. 'So, might as well play along, Daisuki—Daisuke! God damn it…'

The Next Morning:

"And where the hell were you?" Lupin asked with a raised eyebrow as Jigen trudged in. "And… Why are you limping?"

"Just give me a pillow to sit on, I've had a long night," Jigen muttered, and tossed his fedora down on the table and slowly eased himself onto the couch, cringing before making himself comfortable.

"Long in a good way?" Lupin asked with a wide smile.

"You knew she was going to do that, didn't you?" Jigen asked with a glare. "You're a badddd monkey."

"And I'm sure that's exactly what she said to you, too," Lupin winked and chuckled. "She talked you into it?"

"More like I had my pants off before I could figure out what in the hell was going on… For being a friggin' Amazon she sure can move," Jigen muttered, taking out a cigarette and placing it between his lips.

"Amazon goddess," Lupin smiled fondly, looking off as if remembering an encounter of his own with her. "I can honestly say that that was one of the only times I wasn't leading in the tango."

"Yeah, how in the hell could you? Every time I tried to get on top she just pushed me back down," Jigen asked with a roll of the eyes.

"I knew she'd take a liking to you… She loves skinny guys like you. I'm surprised you agreed though, especially since you had already gotten your fill from earlier in the evening."

"What in the hell are you talking about?" asked Jigen with a frown.

"I guess this means you're bi, right?" Lupin ventured as he rested his elbows on the back of the chair he sat on and leaned forward. "There's nothing wrong with that Jigen… And it sure as hell explains a lot."

"Wha… Where in the hell are you getting this?" Jigen snapped.

"Goemon said you stepped out for some company, which, by the way, I think is real shitty on your part if you're supposed to be protecting him. The least you could've done was let him in on it, too."

"What are you talking about? I went to go buy some cigarettes!" snapped a red-faced Jigen angrily.

"Yeah, yeah, well—" it then clicked in Lupin's mind that Goemon had been referring to cigarettes as their British slang term, and he let out an amused chuckle.

"What's so DAMN funny?" Jigen shouted.

"Nothing, just… Go teach Goemon some English. I think it'd be best for both of you," Lupin chuckled, and then broke out into a full fledged laugh as a still angry and confused Jigen stormed out of the room, his face red beneath his fedora and his teeth beginning to ache him.

"Where were you last night?" Goemon asked without looking up from his lesson books. Jigen simply glared at Goemon, and Goemon in return closed his book and rose to meet Jigen. "Well?"

"Not screwing a guy, that's for sure!"

"Excuse me?"

"Did you tell Lupin I was queer?" Jigen demanded. "Well? What in the hell did you say to him, Ishikawa?"

"Jigen, I didn't say anything about that," Goemon murmured numbly.

"Liar!" Jigen shouted.

"Are you accusing me of saying something other than the truth, Jigen?"

"That's what it means… Or are you stupid to Japanese, too? You sure as hell can't land English!"

Goemon paused a moment, and glared at Jigen, "My, that was low. What's next, maybe another joke at my expense? I know exactly what you want to say to me, Jigen, but you're too chicken to say it. You know it'd be easy to make jest of, Jigen…"

"Listen, man, don't turn this on me! You know I wouldn't go that low!"

Goemon turned away from Jigen, glanced at his suitcases and flung them from their position underneath his bed to atop it. He began to throw his things in, murmuring to himself.

"What was that?" Jigen's eyes traveled from the suitcase, to the angered Goemon.

"I said," Goemon looked upward at Jigen coldly, and finished this sentence in faltering English, 'if you were going to fuck any man Lupin would be your first choice.'

Jigen balked, and stormed over to Goemon, and delivered a good smack across his face, "Say that again, you son of a bitch! Come on, I dare you!"

"Jigen, let go," Goemon ordered.

"Like hell I will. Quit acting like a brat, this isn't anything like you!" Jigen growled, and refused to let Goemon out of his grasp, even as he struggled. A packet fell out of Goemon's pocket and both he and Jigen stopped a moment, and stared down at the white candy-like objects. There was dead silence between the two, and a moment later Goemon went back to his attempts to release himself from Jigen's grasp, but only fell back onto the bed, Jigen landing atop him.

"What in the hell are those two bitching about?" Lupin had been reading his newspaper when he had begun to hear the two and had tried to ignore them, but it seemed like the more he tried to drown them out, the more the noise escalated. So finally he removed his reading glasses and entered the bedroom (after picking the lock) just in time to see Jigen holding Goemon captive.

Lupin and Jigen met eye to eye for a few moments, and Lupin _slowlyyyy _closed the door and went back to his paper.

Jigen let go of his hold on Goemon and fixed himself cross legged-upon the bed, and Goemon sat up and rubbed his sore wrists, "I suppose you want to know why…."

"You're carrying pills? Yeah, that'd be nice to know," Jigen snapped.

"…I can't sleep without taking them. If I dream, I dream about that night. No amount of meditation has helped me, and none of my herbal cures that were passed on to me worked, either. So that was my only alternative."

Jigen picked up the bag and opened it, and studied on of the pills, "You have a bad trip on any of these yet?"

"Not yet," Goemon responded. "I fear one, though."

Jigen rose and walked into the bathroom with the bag, and Goemon cringed as he heard a flush, and watched Jigen exit moments later and seat himself beside Goemon, not allowing his eyes to meet with the samurai's.

"Your buddy's going to be pissed when he finds out about this," Jigen murmured. "That old British guy? Yeah, you're going to be in deep crap with him, friend. That is, if someone tells him."

"You won't, will you, Jigen?" Goemon asked almost desperately.

"Nah," Jigen shook his head and loosened his tie a bit. "But if I catch you with those again I'm going to kick the crap out of you." Goemon gave a silent nod and watched as Jigen stood and began to tidy up about the dismantled bedroom.

"You're going to wake up feeling like crap," Jigen warned Goemon. "A lot of my war buddies popped pills like the ones you have."

"How long will it last?" Goemon wondered aloud as he watched Jigen continue to work.

Jigen gave a shrug and pulled a cigarette out of his jacket pocket, "I guess it depends on the person. But I wouldn't expect to be going out anywhere anytime soon. You'll probably be hugging the toilet all day tomorrow. Your system's going to try to get that stuff out of you."

"Jigen, you know you don't have to do all of this," Goemon said quietly.

"Sure I do," Jigen smiled from beneath his fedora and placed the cigarette in his mouth. "Just get to sleep and don't worry about this anymore. I'll make sure you make it to the bathroom."

"…So, where were you last night, anyway?" Goemon asked as he looked over at Jigen, who was continuing his cleaning of their room.

"A girl," Jigen responded, and then corrected himself after a moment, "Well, more of a giant… Real pushy dame, but good where it counted."

"So you…"

"Ohhh yeah," a smile came upon Jigen's face, and he looked over at Goemon. "She was even better than Fujiko."

"Wait—You and Fujiko?"

"Sure," Jigen gave a small shrug. "She's the town bike, what makes you think I haven't had a ride myself? Or are you like Lupin, and you don't even think I ride bikes?"

"We aren't talking about sporting gear anymore, are we?"

Jigen gave a chuckle and shook his head, "You know, I wonder about you sometimes, Goemon. I really wonder about you."

"What's there to wonder about?" Goemon ventured to ask, and laid back a little in his bed.

"Well, I don't even know how old you are!"

"Twenty-nine."

"Twenty-nine? That's it? Holy crap," Jigen gave a laugh, and scratched the back of his head. "You're still a baby."

Goemon flushed at this comment, and asked moments later, "How old are you, Jigen?"

"Forty."

"You're younger than I thought…"

"Drugs'll do that to you. Especially cigarettes."

"Why do you smoke them, then?"

"Well, helps me with stress. This is a high-stress job, and I need something to unwind at the end of the day…"

"Those drugs help me to 'unwind'," Goemon said, and Jigen stopped, rose and looked downward at the ground, not exactly sure how to explain the difference between his drugs and Goemon's without coming off like a hypocrite. Then he realized that there perhaps wasn't that big a difference at all.

"….Yeah, but…. Just don't do yours, anymore, Goemon. You don't wanna get to looking like me. Just trust me; it ain't a good day when you look in the mirror and think you see your father staring back at you."

"I don't think I'll grow a beard, Jigen."

"Yeah, I don't even think you're old enough to shave," Jigen murmured and gave a light chuckle. Goemon took offense to this, and Jigen gave a tired heavy smile and seated himself on the edge of his partner's bed. "Promise me you won't do any more of those. If you can't sleep just get me or Lupin to play cards with you or somethin'. He can go on four hours and be gold in the morning and I barely sleep."

Goemon gave a nod, "Thank you once again, Jigen. I'm not sure how I'll repay you once things are back to normal."

"Don't worry about it," Jigen answered, sighed and looked at the clock. "You just grab some sleep… I know that Brit works you like a hound, so you need all of the rest you can get…"

"…Thank you," Goemon muttered quietly before nodding off to sleep on the bed.

"Great, so he's going to be puking and have a sore back in the morning…" Jigen stepped over to Goemon and placed a blanket over the ex-samurai, sighed and seated himself back in the cheap hotel chair. After a few moments' thought, he rose and walked out of the bedroom. He had promised Goemon that he would stay, but he had other things to attend to.


	3. Act 3

"Hey, I need you to do me a favor," Jigen said to Lupin as he stepped out while loading his gun.

"You got another hot date tonight?" Lupin said with a hint of amusement in his tone as he looked up from his newspaper. Jigen gave a tired glance from beneath his fedora and pulled off his tie and set them on the desk. It was when he began to remove his jacket that Lupin stood and removed his glasses.

"Okay, you and Goemon can have your little lovefests, but it takes a lot more than sweet talking to get to me," Lupin said warningly.

"Why you think just because I'm taking care of the guy that it's a gay thing?" asked Jigen with a frown. "Gimme your jacket… I need you to pretend to be me for a little bit while I go out. I've got some things to take care of."

"….Why am I thinking that Tomo's involved? Listen, I've got that under control."

"No, having it under control would mean that you've got Tomo in a box," Jigen answered as he pulled Lupin out of his red jacket and placed it over his own shoulders, which were slightly broader and therefore made the jacket a tighter fit.

"Jigen, sometimes things take time," Lupin explained. "Now c'mon, man, you look stupid in red, anyway. Just go to sleep."

Jigen glowered at Lupin and tilted his head down, "I can't stand to see someone totally destroyed like that, Lupin. He's afraid to be alone, and it used to be that I could barely get within five feet of his dome of personal space! Now he's clinging onto me like I'm his friggin' mother!"

"Well, if you don't mind me going Freudian for a second… I think Goemon's seeing you as a provider, or protector almost."

"Wait, you mean like women do?"

"Erm… That was really sexist, and no, not exactly. Jigen, what year are you living in, man?" Lupin wondered aloud. "N-nevermind. For some reason he just… Just let him be clingy, Jigen. You take care of him, and I'll take care of Tomo Otomo, okay? Okay."

"If you had taken care of him sooner, this wouldn't have happened," said Jigen with a snip in his voice. Lupin gave an outward shudder and looked upward at Jigen.

"After all of the years you've know me… I would've figured that you'd realize exactly how much it killed me to see him like that. There are few things I feel guilty about, but allowing that to happen to one of my best friends is one of them, if not the only thing. Just go take care of him, Jigen, and give me back my jacket. Please."

"Fine," Jigen muttered and tossed the fire-engine red blazer back to Lupin, "but only so things'll finally calm themselves down around here."

Then there was a knock upon the door, and Lupin shuddered and turned about on his heel, "…Early."

"Who's early? Lupin, who's early?" asked Jigen as he followed Lupin to the hotel door. There was another gentle knock, and as Lupin casually opened the rich wooden door, the scent of Chanel quickly filled the air, and Jigen jumped back, as if bitten by a viper. But no, it was only the cobra woman.

"I heard you boys needed some help," Fujiko removed the yellow-tinted sunglasses that she wore at nighttime for reasons unsaid and folded them into their case as she slunk into the hotel room, past both men. "So how's he doing?"

"He's been better," Lupin admitted, sticking his hands in his pockets. "What can I say? How do you… I mean…. Did you get the information we need?"

"Done and done," Fujiko smiled and retrieved a disk from the same purse her sunglasses had disappeared into.

"Great, now leave," Jigen snapped, and took her roughly by one shoulder.

"Ouch! Hey, Jigen! What the hell?" Fujiko moaned as she was forced to the door she had come through.

"We've got enough trouble here already without you adding to it!" Jigen shouted.

"Hey, Jigen, whoa, c'mon," Lupin said gently, and pulled Jigen away from Fujiko. "She's here to help, too. She was just as mad as you were."

"Yeah, but… It's not like she saw him or anything," Jigen muttered.

"Where is he, anyway?" Fujiko peeked over Lupin's shoulder curiously, to see if Goemon was haunting some lone corner of the room, as he usually did.

"He fell asleep," Lupin answered. "Jigen and I were just about to head to bed ourselves. Care to join?"

"Nice to know some things never change… You and Jigen have fun with that," Fujiko gave a roll of the eyes and shoved the information into Lupin's chest. "I've got a date tonight, actually."

"Not named Roxanne, is it?" Jigen asked, scratching the back of his neck as he said this.

"…What in the hell do you take me for?" Fujiko snapped.

"Nothing, I was just curious," Jigen muttered and turned back to his room. "Sleep tight. Don't let the double-crossing-bitches-bite."

"He's a joy to have around as always," Fujiko said with a frown to Lupin when she was sure Jigen had left the room.

"He's been really stressed lately," Lupin admitted. "There's a lot of things coming from this job, and they all seem to connect to Otomo. We think the drugs he's trafficking are to fund a larger hobby."

"Which would be?"

"That's where Mr. Alexis comes in," Lupin said with a smile.

Fujiko gave a few confused blinks, and leaned in the doorway, "Alexis? Now why does that ring a bell?"

"Olympic judo champ… Said to have taught Bruce Lee several fighting techniques… Also said to be the keeper of a treasure about the size of the island of Crete."

"If it's so big then why haven't you found it?"

"Well, urm… I… What I mean to say is…."

"Never mind. I'm late already," Fujiko said with a small smile, and placed her sunglasses back on her untrustworthy eyes.

"So what do I owe you?" Lupin asked with a sigh; he cringed in knowing that information like she had dredged up would cost him greatly.

"Just kill Otomo and get Goemon back to the way he was," Fujiko answered.

"What… You mean you don't want any—"

"Let's just say I'll get some satisfaction in it, anyway," Fujiko replied.

"Hrm, let me guess. Otomo's death would be symbolic of every guy who ever mistreated you, right?"

"I'm not admitting that…. But I also won't deny it," Fujiko backed out of the door and trod down the hall. "Good night, Lupin! Ciao!"

"Yeah… Bon soir," Lupin murmured and shut the door behind him, and stared down at the file a few more moments, not quite believing that Fujiko had actually proven that she indeed did have a less icy side.

The next morning:

'How that?' Goemon asked and looked to his instructor for approval.

'Decent,' Dorian replied, and stood from the bench in the gym. 'But… You're still not quite getting it.'

'But… I land move perfectly.'

'Yes, yes… But… There's something still missing there,' Dorian gave a sigh of exhaustion, which turned into a series of low murmurs as he heard his daughter enter. 'I really, really hope it doesn't come to the point where I have to teach you bloody ballet moves in order to teach you how to use grace.'

'Ballet?' Goemon blinked.

'Yeh. And one of the last things you'll ever want to see is my ancient arse attempting to work myself into a leotard.'

'Guess who brought lunch!' Barbra said cheerily. Goemon's stomach churned at the thought of eating; Jigen was right about feeling sick, and the gunman had been up half the night with Goemon during the numerous purging spells that had overcome him.

'Ah, what'd you bring us this time?' Dorian dropped the long bokken sword he had in his left hand and walked over to the bag, glancing at the plastic containers.

'Gotcha sushi,' Barbra said with a smile as Goemon looked over the contents. 'Hope ya like it…. Looked up the recipe in an old book me Mum had.'

"I can't stand sushi," Dorian admitted to Goemon in Japanese as both men took a container with a small smile.

"I wouldn't talk. The British can't cook worth a damn, from what I've seen," Goemon returned in his native tongue.

'Oh, whatcha guys talkin' about?' Barbra asked excitedly as she seated herself at a table in the dojo while Dorian sat on a bleacher and Goemon on the floor.

'The weather,' Dorian answered as he dove into the sushi and pulled out a squid tentacle. He raised an eyebrow and quickly set this aside, and began to dig through for signs of edible pieces.

Goemon began to zip down his jersey, but became aware of Barbra's presence, and quickly zipped it back up to its full length, which turned it into a kind of turtleneck.

'So modest,' Barbra chuckled and shook her head. 'Mister Ishikawa, is there something wrong with your meal?'

'Er, nothing,' Goemon answered. _'What in the hell** is **this? It… It can't be sushi… It's staring back at me.'_

'Dad, you stopped eating yours…' Barbra said with worry.

'I'm not that hungry, is all, Dear,' Dorian said with a clear of the throat and a setting aside of the chopsticks.

"Chicken," Goemon said to Dorian with a smirk, Barbra oblivious to this.

'How about you get back to work?' Dorian suggested sternly to his pupil as he rose and picked up his wooden sword along the way, making no effort to give the appearance that hitting Goemon on the back of the head with the sword as he passed was mere accident. 'Barbra, you should be studying, you know.'

'Heh, yeah, I know, I know,' she said with a roll of the eyes. 'I think I'm the only one who's flunking my math class.'

'Your mother was excellent at mathematics.'

'But you're the one who taught me, Dad, and you're dreadful!' Barbra laughed and rose. 'What about you, Goemon? You any good with numbers?'

'Barbra, just because he's Asian doesn't mean—'

'Move here,' Goemon pointed in the textbook that Barbra had already pulled out during the beginning of her father's speech. 'Here… Now here…'

'Ohhhh! I gotcha!' Barbra nodded and smiled. 'Thanks!'

'….What a wonderful example of reaffirming stereotypes,' Dorian muttered quietly.

'Ay, Goemon,' Barbra smiled and pointed to her father, 'Limey. My dad's a limey.'

'You're teaching him derogatory names? Christ… What else have you been teaching him behind me back?' Dorian wondered aloud.

'Limey,' Goemon nodded. 'Okay… Dorian… Limey.'

'Yup!' Barbra patted him on the back and picked up her backpack. 'I'm off! Catch you later, Dad!'

'Stay safe,' Dorian reminded her as she hopped toward the exit. She nearly bumped into the suit-wearing man on her way out, and briefly glanced up at him. 'Dad, you've got a visitor here… I think it's one of them Orthodox Jews.'

'Shalom,' Jigen replied as he entered, his hands placed in his pockets.

'I was wondering when you were going to figure out what we was doin' here,' Dorian said with smirk as he thrust once with his wooden sword and then allowed it to hang loose in one of his hands. 'What brings you 'ere, Mr. Jigen?'

'Just wanted to have a few words with a friend of ours.'

'Oh really now?' Dorian gave an ambiguous expression which could have been best discerned as mild amusement, nodded and lifted up his mask from the padded ground and whistled as he made his way toward the exit.

'Where you going?' Goemon wondered aloud.

'Oh, I thought I'd let you all talk amongst yourselves,' Dorian said, closing the doors behind him.

"What was that all about?" a confused Jigen wondered, and gave Goemon a cold stare as he watched the ex-samurai begin to pack his things. "…What'd you say to him?"

"Nothing," Goemon replied, clearing his throat and picking up his sword. "Let's get going."

"Goemon…"

"Mr. Alexis and I were just speaking, and you came up. That's all, I swear it."

"Oh, really? In what sense?"

"It wasn't anything bad, Jigen," Goemon reassured him. "Come, help me with this armor, please."

Jigen gave a nod and removed a cigarette from his stale pack, but refrained from lighting it inside the building, "You… You sure, man? 'Cause a lot of people are talking… Like, you know, saying weird stuff about us."

"Such as?" Goemon lifted up the heavy padding and set it in its bins and then turned back to Jigen.

"Well…. Just… Stuff…" said Jigen hesitantly. "Come on, I'll get you lunch."

"As long as it's not sushi."

"What, did you swear that off, too?"

"No… It's just I don't think I'll be able to eat it for a while," Goemon murmured, and followed Jigen out to their rental car. In the back sat a tall woman wearing an orange raincoat to ward off the typically wet English weather, as well as matching orange rain boots.

'Roxanne, Goemon. Goemon, this is Roxanne,' Jigen murmured and stepped into the driver's side while Goemon stood there a few more moments, taking in the presence of the woman.

'Pleasure,' Roxanne smiled and gave a light bow to Goemon, then looked back at Jigen with a toothy smile, 'Never can say that I've met a real samurai before…'

'Well, Goemon's the best,' Jigen reassured her. 'Come on and buckle up, guys, and let's hope I remember to drive on the right side of the road.'

'You'll actually want to be on the left, dear,' Roxanne answered.

'…You know what I mean!'

'_Dear?' _Goemon blinked and looked to Roxanne, and then to Jigen, and wondered exactly how well the two were acquainted. It was certainly strange for Goemon to be in the presence of a woman for five minutes without calling her a bitch or anything of the sort, but then again, Roxanne did look slightly intimidating.

'And then a right…'

'Roxanne, I get it. You're a worse backseat driver than Lupin!'

'That's probably why you and I get along so well, isn't it?' Roxanne's hand went on Jigen's knee, and Goemon flushed at the sight of this gesture.

"Jigen, would you like me to allow you to have some alone time with her?" asked Goemon quietly to his partner in Japanese.

"What, are you kidding! You're my reassurance that nothing happens!" Jigen replied, and managed to fend off Roxanne until reaching the hotel.

'I'll see you both later!' Roxanne called to the two on their way out of the car. 'Oh, I almost forgot! Goemon!'

The samurai turned at the sound of his name, and barely deflected the knife that was thrown in his direction, slicing it in two and allowing it to fall onto the ground. Roxanne looked down at the slashed blade, and then up to Goemon with a smile.

'Seems as though you've been practicing,' she set aside the other knife which she still held in her hand, and smiled after starting up the car once more, and then drove off down the winding gray road.

"….Boy did I pick up one scary bitch," said Jigen after an awkward silence, and Goemon only sheathed his sword, glancing at the knife once more before turning in to the hotel with Jigen.

"I see you're getting back to our old self, Goemon!" Lupin's voice beamed with confidence as he turned from the window and smiled, a cigarette between his teeth. "Here, want a smoke? On me…."

"No, thanks… I don't do those sorts of things," Goemon answered, holding up a hand to Lupin.

"Well?" Lupin smirked and then moved the pack over to Jigen. "What do you say, Pal?"

"Urm… Tryin' to cut back," Jigen answered as he looked over to Goemon, who had now resided himself into his bedroom, and was working upon polishing his sword.

"So who plays babysitter while we go out?" Jigen asked Lupin after a few moments' worth of quiet. "He's terrified of being alone anymore, and I don't exactly wanna take him to a stake out for fear he might lunge at Tomo and end up getting his ass kicked…"

"Well, there's always your little Amazonian love-muffin."

"Hey, man, what happened between us is—"

"Yeah, yeah, wild and something I wish I'd been in on," Lupin waved this off and then thought for a moment. "Well, Fujiko said she'd help out any way she could…"

"You… You think that's smart?"

"Why wouldn't it be? She's a big girl who knows who loves her," Lupin chuckled, and slapped Jigen on the back. "And she knows Goemon would be the first to kill her out of any one of us if she screwed us over!"

"Heh, funny, I was always under the impression that it'd be me," Jigen turned from Lupin, and headed to the full bar, making himself a straight whiskey on the rocks and then seating himself on the cherry wood seat, leaning forward onto the black countertop. "I just… I don't want him to do something he'd regret."

"Come on, it's Goemon! What could he possibly do to harm her! I always thought he had a little bit of a thing for her, myself!"

"Exactly, and that might get him in trouble. You and I both damn well know that that ain't the same Goemon Ishikawa we both know," Jigen spoke in a low tone, and began to sip his whiskey. "I just… If he hurt her, he'd probably want to off himself even more."

"Hurt her? You mean like… But, Goemon?"

"Hey, I wasn't expecting to get tackled, either, but if I hadn't punched him when I had who knows that the hell you could've walked in on," Jigen said solemnly.

"Fujiko can take care of herself, and maybe she could talk him down a little from this," Lupin said coolly. "And if it does get to be too much, she's familiar with the one move that'll stop every man dead in his tracks."

"Yeah, she's sure as hell done it to you, enough, over the years."

"Isn't it that time of the hour where Roxanne should have you on your back?" Lupin chuckled and Jigen only gave a grumble to this, and tugged down upon his fedora.

The following night:

"Wow, is this all?" Fujiko held up the long list of do's and don't, and then glanced back to Jigen and Lupin.

"Eh, no, one more thing," Jigen turned to the table in the dining area, and tossed Fujiko the portable radio. "He likes listening to that thing, for some reason… A lot of J-Pop."

"Scary thing is, he was like that before," Lupin said with a smirk as he loaded his gun, and then turned to Fujiko. "Now if you need anything, or if you get lonely, Fuijcakes, just picture my smiling face."

"Yeah, if I start choking on my dinner thinking of you oughta make it come right out," Fujiko answered plainly, and glanced to the radio.

"Think you're so funny," Lupin said with annoyance, and placed his gun in its holster. "Well, we're out!"

"And Fujiko…" Jigen looked above his fedora sternly to her. "If he goes to try anything, I'm not condoning harming him, but do what you need to."

Fujiko was left to quietly ponder this as the two men stepped out, and glanced to the radio, and then walked into the bedroom, where Goemon lay asleep on the bed. She hovered over him a moment and sighed, "You can make perfect cuts through stone but you can't even manage a decent haircut. Ugh, better take care of that before it ignores me all night."

She walked into the bathroom and then, after retrieving a pair of scissors, she brushed aside some of his thick bangs, and looked over the remnants of a black eye, "Poor bastard… What'd he do to you, anyway?"

After the first clip, she felt a strong hand clamping upon her wrist tightly, and a blade to her neck. Goemon had taken the scissors with lighting speed and now held them up to her throat. He dropped these before she was able to let out a scream, and also let go of her wrists. Goemon glanced at the fresh red mark he had inflicted upon her, and then recoiled in the horror of his own actions.

"No… I… Goemon," Fujiko leaned forward, and then seated herself on the edge of the bed, noting the far off, bewildered look in the samurai's eyes. "Jigen and Lupin had to step out for a little while, but they wanted me to stay around here and look after the place while they were out."

"You mean stand watch in case I try to kill myself, correct?"

"Well, I…" Fujiko placed her hands on the sides of his face, not allowing him to pull back as he had before. She leaned inward and gently kissed him, and Goemon was caught off guard by this, and looked her over, speechless, "Damn…. Lupin usually snaps out of a mood with that. Guess you're going to have to take a little more effort, huh?" she giggled at his expression, and leaned against the headboard. "The last thing you want to do is talk about it, probably, but I've got qualities just as good as my chest or my shooting skill, and that's my listening skills." Fujiko took his silence as the answer to her offer, and rose, "Well, if you need anything…."

Goemon quickly took her by the hand once again, this time minus the gruffness, and glanced upward to her, "He instructed the man to leave the room… The one who was his assistant."

Fujiko remained unblinking through the details of the event, wile on the other side of town, Lupin crept onto a beam, Jigen trailing not too far behind, as both watched Tomo Otomo pace about the numerous crates in the warehouse.

"What do you mean you didn't find it!" Otomo growled, spinning about to face his lackey. "Isn't that what I do, pay you to find things!"

"Sir, we…" the lackey sputtered, his clipboard in one hand. "We couldn't find anything!"

"Wonderful! We finally get Lupin off of our backs for five minutes and now we can't even find what we came here for! Find me that treasure, or your head will roll!"

Tomo stormed off, and Lupin glanced briefly to Jigen, doing a double-take as he now noted Jigen gripping the trigger of his magnum, "No, not yet…."

"I've got a clean shot. One bullet to the skull, and it'll all be over!"

"Jigen, Otomo's got people all over this place. One shot and we'll be just as dead, and then Goemon'll probably guilt trip over that, too!"

"Lupin… He's the bastard who…"

"I know, I know…. Let's go, I have what I need," Lupin patted Jigen on the arm and then crept out of the warehouse, hopping into the SSK with Jigen by his side. "When the time comes, we'll let Goemon have his way with the guy, it's only fair."

"You think he'd be able to go up against him?"

"Why do you think he's training so hard now? If we had killed Tomo, there would've gone Goemon's last purpose for living down the toilet."

"I hope he roughs up that son of a bitch good, too," Jigen muttered and sunk low in his seat, Lupin glancing to the gunman with a smirk.

They arrived back at the hotel in the dead of night, noting only the lamp in Goemon's room shining through the otherwise darkened hotel windows. Lupin and Jigen exited the vehicle, then quietly entered the hotel. It was hard for Lupin to keep him composure as he looked in the bedroom and saw Fujiko laid upon the bed, Goemon beside her with his head laid upon her lap.

"….Hey, man, don't even think it," Jigen said warningly as he noted Lupin reaching for his Walther. "It's nothing, trust me. They probably just fell asleep like that."

"Yeah, and you wear that beard because it's in fashion!" Lupin shot back angrily, loud enough for Fujiko to bat her eyes open and see the two men squabbling in the living room of the hotel.

After replacing her lap with a pillow and shutting the door behind her, she stepped in between the two, and looked over to Lupin with a frown, "Don't tell me you're that petty, that you're acting jealous over Goemon!"

"What, like you wouldn't in my situation!" Lupin snapped, and pointed to Jigen. "What if you had come in and found my all cozy with him!"

"Hey, keep me out of this!" Jigen growled, taking a step back from the two.

"Probably would have explained a few things," Fujiko answered, folding her arms. "You said yourself what happened to him was traumatic!"

"How do you know he wasn't just using that to get close to you?"

There was the sound of a loud smack, and blood trailed across Lupin's face from where Fujiko's nails had dug in and across, "Talk to me again when you don't feel like acting like an asshole!"

"W-wait, Fujiko!" Lupin gripped onto the bleeding wounds across the bridge of his nose, and ran to catch her, but proved too slow, and was only left to kick the door in anger. "Oh, come on, nothing to be added from Mr. Gunman?"

"Only that I think for the first time I can say I agree with her on something," Jigen answered coolly, and walked into his and Goemon's bedroom.

"Damn it!" Lupin shouted, and stormed into the bathroom to clean the cuts he had suffered.

Jigen first removed his jacket and tie, and then kicked off his shoes, and laid back on the mattress, closing his eyes. He would have given anything to go back to a month ago, anything. And he only could begin to imagine what the other body in the room thought.


	4. Act 4

The next morning:

'All right, kick his ass!' Barbra whooped from the stands of the gym, and made a punching motion.

Dorian stood straight up and looked to her, lifting the kendo mask from his face, 'I'm your bloody father and you're rooting for him!' he yelled with disbelief. Goemon attempted to come crashing down onto Dorian with his bokken, but was stopped as Alexis grabbed onto Goemon's joined hands and sent him flying.

'Damn!' he growled, and sat up, adjusting his armor and rising.

'Don't worry, Pal, you almost had him that time,' beside Barbra on the bleachers sat Jigen, stretched out over several with his ever present smile upon his face. He could feel a set of eyes upon him, and his vision slowly traveled to Barbra. 'Could I help you?'

'How… How do you see outta that thing, anyway? It got eyeholes?'

'Barbra!' Dorian shouted chidingly, and barely dodged Goemon as the samurai attempted a sneak attack. 'Close, but not yet!'

'Why in the world does he put up with my father, anyway?' Barbra asked Jigen quietly as both watched to the two continue their duel.

'Well… Goemon just wants to get back at someone, and your dad could teach him how… Goemon… He used to be the guy samurai films were made of!'

'Like a matinee hero of sorts?'

'Eh, yeah, I guess so. But then… Some scary stuff went down, and his personality did a total 360. We're hoping that in addition to maybe defeating Otomo, that we can get Goemon back, too. I just hope that this training's really helping him.'

'Otomo… Name certainly does ring a bell….' Barbra muttered, and then the two were interrupted by a door opening, and a now all-too-familiar woman walked in, this time in an orange sweatsuit, with a long, thin bundle in one hand, wrapped in a purple cloth and tied liberally with a string running up it.

'….The hell?' Jigen blinked as Roxanne crossed the gym, setting down the long bundle and unzipping her short sweat jacket, revealing a white sports bra beneath. Her hair was now in a tight afro, whereas previously Jigen had seen her with shoulder-length straight hair. 'What are you doing here!'

'You don't get underworld connections based on your looks, Dear,' Roxanne answered with a smile, and turned to Dorian. 'Sorry if I'm a bit late. Doing my hair… I'm sure you understand.'

'Yes, those _Foxy Brown _looks as notoriously difficult for me to pull off,' Dorian answered, causing Roxanne to draw a large smile. 'You truly are a woman… Late because of a hair appointment. Well, are you ready to have a go at our apt pupil?'

Roxanne read Goemon's obviously confused expression, and gave a chuckle, 'Yes, and I brought the incentive… What's a fight without something worth fighting for?'

"Jigen, tell her that I don't fight women," Goemon called to his friend, and Jigen nodded.

'He says he won't fight you 'cause you're a broad!' Jigen shouted to Roxanne.

'Guess he won't be seeing this for a while, then,' she lifted up the bundle and untied the string, set this aside with two other swords, revealing only Goemon's precious Zantetsuken. The samurai's eyes widened, and he remained motionless, his eyes following the blade. 'It's a shame… For looking a bit warn, it's an incredible blade…'

'How did you….' Goemon began, and trailed off as he searched painfully for the right words. Roxanne was quick to catch on to his question, however.

'Doesn't matter. Now, I've got a little wager for you…'

Goemon was familiar with the term 'wager', and nodded, comprehending this and tensely awaiting her terms.

'You beat me… You get the sword back….'

'If I lose?'

'Well, you'll still get the sword… But I get Daisuke for the night.'

'HEY!' Jigen shouted and sprung up from his seat, 'You can't do that! That's not my name, it's—Crap, you got it right this time—But you still can't do that!'

'Deal,' Goemon said coolly, and grabbed onto the sword that Roxanne tossed to him.

'What!' Jigen shrieked, and looked over to Goemon. "Are you out of your mind!"

"Don't worry, Jigen…"

"Worry! Who's worried! That's right, me! 'Cause if you lose, I'm done for! You better win this, Goemon!"

'So… Basically he wins or she gets to boink your brains out,' Barbra said, pointing to Roxanne as Jigen took a seat. 'Don't guys like that sort of thing, though?'

'Not when you're hobblin' the next day,' Jigen muttered, and lifted up the brim of his fedora as Dorian took his place beside Jigen and his daughter.

Dorian glanced Jigen over with a smile, and a chuckle, 'Too much woman for you, mate, or just not very fond of them?'

'Why, you lookin' for a date?' Jigen returned quickly as the fight began, Roxanne circling Goemon, who followed her closely with his eyes. She made the first attempt at an attack, and the two wooden swords clashed and remained locked into place until Goemon pulled away and quickly jumped back from Roxanne, who thrust at him and barely missed him with the bokken.

'You ain't that bad!' Roxanne said with a concentrated, confident smile as she lunged for Goemon once again, this time Goemon jumping onto her sword and propelling himself off of this, and over her shoulder. He then spun about, and looked over his shoulder to Roxanne. Goemon lunged with his sword, but Roxanne held out her arm, and caught his arm with this move.

'Ready to give up yet?' she asked in a huff.

'Not really,' Goemon answered in his ever-thick Japanese accent, and managed to break hold from her, and jumped back, spacing himself from the Amazon-like woman. Roxanne held her sword at her side, and quickly placed it in front of her as Goemon attacked, their blades once again clacking against one another, followed by a frenzied series of clapping noises as the blades continually hit one another, Goemon backing Roxanne toward the edge of the gym and Roxanne at times doing the same with him.

Goemon finally kicked up, and hit Roxanne's wrist. Her grip unlocked momentarily, and the sword went flying into the air. Ishikawa reached out and grabbed the other bokken, and then with his back to Roxanne he placed one sword on either side of her neck, making an X-pattern.

'Very good,' Roxanne smiled and then looked to Dorian. 'Well, what does the sensei say?'

'Could have been better,' Dorian answered and hopped off of his seat. 'Tomo's an excellent fighter, even without his barrage of lackeys… Right now I'd put you at fifty-fifty, Goemon….'

'I did good?'

'Acceptable… But don't let that go to your head,' Dorian said gruffly and took the swords. 'Now, we've got some work to do at the library… Roxanne, thank you for taking time out of your busy partying schedule to show him a thing or two.'

'Always a pleasure, Dorian,' Roxanne picked up her jacket from the floor and zipped this up, and tossed Goemon's sword to him. 'Good luck…And I'll be seeing you around, Jigen.'

Jigen breathed a sigh of relief as Roxanne exited, and hopped down from the bleachers to Goemon, 'Thanks, man…' he patted the samurai upon the back, but this was followed by a hard punch in the gut, 'And if you ever do that again I'll shove that sword the last place where you'd want it to be!'

'…If that loudmouth can have you offguard, I suppose we still do have much work to do,' Dorian muttered as Goemon sat doubled-over in pain from the blow.

Later that evening:

"Here," Lupin retrieved an ice pack for Goemon, and the samurai laid it over the area of his stomach which Jigen had hit. Lupin took a seat on the chair opposite of Goemon, and looked downward a moment in contemplation, "…Listen, Goemon, something's been bugging me…"

"Nothing happened between me or Fujiko, I swear it, Lupin."

"I know… I should've known… I guess I'm just attempting an apology," Lupin sighed and closed his eyes. "I owe it to you… I should have trusted you more. But, hey, you trusted me, and I let you down…"

"It was not you, Lupin, it was myself," Goemon eased himself up and looked to his friend. "I was certain that everything I had been taught would get me out of any trouble, and I was incorrect in my thinking, and my misjudgment cost me dearly."

"That's what friends are there for, to bail you out."

"Don't blame yourself," Goemon sighed. "You have done a mass in reparations for something which I don't even blame you for." Lupin gave a surprised look at this, and Goemon continued, "Fujiko told me that you and Jigen were out stalking Tomo Otomo, and I appreciate it. I am starting to think that I will one day soon have my revenge, as well as revenge for Dorian, and for his wife…. Lupin, Barbra is Tomo Otomo's natural daughter, Dorian is only raising her as his own."

"Well, that's love if I ever heard it," Lupin could not hide his shock from this fact, and began to piece together information in his mind. "I'm worried about that kid, I'm thinking she'd be next."

"But… Do you really think that Tomo's that sick of…" Goemon thought back, and had an answer to his question. "You're right; she could very well be in danger. What should we do, tell Dorian?"

"I'm pretty sure he's got a good idea of it already, afterall, people have been after him for years," Lupin shrugged. "He was a judo champion, back in the day… Also gifted in jujitsu, ninjitsu, and one of the only non-Hebrew certified Krav Maga instructors on the planet. His wife was just as good."

"And what does this have to do with him being in danger?"

"Dorian's father was a Greek dignitary who has a huge fortune hidden somewhere, and Otomo's pet project for years has been finding out where it is, exactly. He killed Dorian's wife when she wouldn't give him directions to the treasure."

"Why wouldn't Dorian give him the directions, then!"

"Because Dorian doesn't have a clue… His daughter's on so many loans right now to go to that private school of hers it isn't even funny. He'd probably like to know as much as Otomo would, or me, for that matter."

"That's what this trip to England was all about!" Goemon asked, a deep frown and angered expression coming over him as he began to slowly piece together Lupin's plans. "You wanted the treasure for yourself!"

"Well, before Tomo, at least," Lupin sat forward in his seat and sighed. "I'd rather see it go to Barbra or a charity before Tomo, and I figured kill two birds with one stone and get Dorian to train you to get back at Otomo… So I say you kill Otomo, get your revenge, and Jigen and I find the treasure."

"Just so you can get your cut, right?"

"This isn't even about me, anymore. It's about you getting what you deserve, which is your self confidence back. I miss the old, pissy Goemon who just ate sashimi and told me what an amoral jerk I was, we all do!"

Goemon said nothing in response to this, and rose from the couch, "I will have justice, not revenge, Lupin."

"Whatever you call it, get it and get Tomo," answered Lupin with a smile. "Now, if you excuse me, I have one more player to let into this little game of ours, and with everything going on, I feel like I've been abusing him lately." He, too stood and stepped out of the hotel, whistling to himself all the way down to the lower-end of town and up to the front door of a run-down hotel room. He removed a piece of chalk from his pocket and continued to quietly whistle as he first went to writing a note upon the door, followed by one of his classic smiling self-portraits. He then turned back around and headed downstairs, tossing the piece of chalk in his hand along the way.

In the morning, Inspector Zenigata of ICPO was more than a little shocked and was admittedly beyond pissed as he read the large note upon the door, 'Hey, Old Man, come and get me! Love, Lupin'. Making sure to have a full round in his revolver, a pack of cigarettes, and several dozen sets of various handcuffs.

"Little creep… Really thinks he can pull one over on me, eh? Well, we'll see about that! We'll see how wide his smile is when he's behind bars!" Zenigata grumbled as he tore down the streets in yet another rental car that would certainly meet the fate of the last fifty or so.

"All going to plan…" Lupin muttered as he watched Zenigata zip past him, and chuckled as he saw everything unfolding out before him.

That evening:

"I hate to say this, but where's Fujiko when you need her?" Jigen wondered to himself as he overlooked the awkward scene of Lupin and Goemon interlocked, and Jigen rubbed his forehead tiredly and stepped to the two. "No, your hand goes here, and your hand goes about… Here…"

"Woah! Not when they're that cold they don't!" Lupin yelped and broke his hold from Goemon. "Just improvise, if nothing else!"

"It isn't that important, anyway," Goemon replied with a shrug.

"Yeah, I'm sure your British buddy thinks so, too… I mean, it's only one of the most important nights of his daughter's life," Jigen answered, and Goemon paled at this realization.

"Perhaps we should give it another go, Lupin…"

"Nah, I'm spent! A guy can only take so much of having his toes stepped on in one night. I'm grabbing a drink, but you two feel free to continue," Lupin patted Goemon upon the shoulder, then left the bedroom, leaving the door ajar.

"So how's withdrawal going?" asked Jigen, seating himself on the dresser across from Goemon.

"This is one of the more difficult challenges I've faced, I will admit," Goemon sighed. "I'm just worried that Otomo may perhaps try to go after Barbra."

"Oh, I wouldn't be too worried about that," Jigen gave a smile. "Lupin's taken care of it…"

Across town, a once-asleep and now highly agitated Dorian stood on the front porch of his home while Inspector Zenigata wildly described the situation to him.

"But I tell you, Lupin's gonna hit this place!"

"Bloody hell… You're Interpol, aren't you? Don't you have… Pink Panthers or something to steal? I'm trying to sleep, as is my daughter."

"Lupin's a sucker for pretty girls, she's probably in just as much danger!"

'Dad, who's there?' Barbra asked as she drew her bathrobe shut and looked over Dorian's shoulder to the man in the trenchcoat. 'Ah, woah! He's Interpol, ain't he!'

'Yes, yes… Barbra, get to bed, it's a school night,' Dorian ordered, and then turned back to Zenigata. 'I don't know what kinda a game you're playing, Chum, but aside from some commemorative plates of the Queen, I don't have anything of value."

"But you don't understand!" Zenigata shouted, but this fell upon deaf ears. Dorian slammed the door in the Inspector's face, and Zenigata gave a moan.

"Damn bloody Asians… It's like a convention!" Dorian sighed, exasperated. "And the next time I see Lupin… He better hope to hell he's got an heir, 'cause he ain't gonna be able to have one after I'm through with him."

Zenigata camped out across from the small house, in his car, and did not notice any activity until around three in the morning (or his second bowl of ramen, depending on who was counting), when a black Sedan parked itself in front of the Alexis household, and the sound a camera clicking became evident to him. He frowned and set down the Ramen bowl on the dash, and stepped out to investigate. He walked across the street, and after knocking upon the window to the car only once, it sped off into the night, nearly running down the inspector and fishtailing into a trashcan.

"Woah! Watch it, you maniac!" Zenigata growled, still stunned from the speed the car. He stomped back to his car and leaned back in the seat, allowing his fedora to rest over his eyes. "Mm… Now for some well-deserved rest and…. Tomorrow… Capture… Lupin…"

Back at the hotel room, Jigen was now laid out upon the bed, his eyes closed and his breathing steady, while Goemon stood looking out over the streets below them. It was the middle of the night when he, too, noticed a black Sedan pulling up to the front of the hotel, and noted the flash of what he perceived to be a camera. Goemon opened the window to the hotel room and hopped out onto the sill, then onto the concrete itself, his years of training enabling him to do so without much harm to his body. His sword at his side, and glared at the Sedan as he walked to it, and was surprised as a door opened and he was pulled in. He felt his sword leave his grasp, and was seated opposite a figure in a sky-blue suit. The man leaned forward, and Goemon's blood froze as his eyes met Tomo Otomo's.

"Long time no see, heh, Goemon-chan?" Tomo said with a smile, and turned his head to a side. "Oh, you cut your hair… I liked the long look much better."

"Why do you think I cut it?" Goemon shot back with a frown.

"Heh, cocky little thing… I liked your spirit… You reminded me of a dog when I first saw you, Goemon…. Trainable, breakable, and ultimately when need be you can fry them…. Hehe… That's what happened to your ancestor, right? Went out like a piece of shrimp tempura."

"Don't bring my ancestors into this!"

"What, think they'd be ashamed of a failure as yourself?" Tomo gave a smile. "Mm, that hit a nerve. You're not as good with emotions as you used to be… "

"Tomo, you've already done your worst to me, so I suggest if you have anything planned that you do it, because death would only be an escape from this hell."

"Mm… But there, you're wrong, Dear," Tomo untied and envelope and smiled, handing Goemon the photographs. "I can still hurt you. I can hurt the ones around you. The thief, his little whore who you were cuddling with, Alexis and his daughter, that big tall black bitch… Or perhaps that gunman you had straddled like a champion racehorse…. The boys really got a hoot out of that one."

Goemon paled with horror as he looked through the scores of photos and gulped dryly, looking upward to Tomo, "….What do you want from me?"

"Simply your help," Tomo smiled and leaned inward. "I need to know where Alexis keeps his treasure, and you're the one who's closest to him."

"Dorian doesn't know where it is! What is its importance to you, anyway, Otomo? You could have anything you wanted!"

"Mm… But this is special. Amongst those treasures is a potion, a list of ingredients for a hallucinogen. It was said that the priestesses in ancient times would use it to speak to the gods themselves… Something that potent would be quite popular, wouldn't you agree? And instead of panhandling the same old drugs, there'd be something new, something only Tomo Otomo could give you. I'm sure you understand all about addiction… Fight me over the death of one of your pupils only to end up popping pills…. I'll let you go now, Goemon, but you find that treasure for me, or they all die, all in front of you. And we're watching you… Speak a word of this to Lupin, that pig from ICPO—Anyone! And we'll still kill them. Now, get to sleep, you look simply exhausted. Tonight's Thursday; you have until Saturday morning."

The door of the car opened and Goemon climbed out, his sword tossed out to him as the Sedan sped off. He picked up the sword and slowly stood, looking to the ground and wondering what in the world he was to do.


End file.
